Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from the line of Spencer Wang of Credit Suisse. Please proceed.
Spencer Wang - Credit Suisse
Thanks and good afternoon. One question regarding costs, maybe in two parts though -- Bob, last quarter you talked about reducing the cost structure, particularly at the studio in light of the new environment. This quarter revenues were down about 20% but costs were basically flat call it year-on-year, so can you just talk a little bit about how we should expect the cost structure to change going forward?
And then for Tom, at theme parks last cycle, your margins peak to trough went down by about 800 basis points. Should we expect that similar kind of dynamic this cycle or will something be different? Thank you.
Robert A. Iger
The plan in the studio, Spencer, is to address costs virtually every level, starting with the number of films released where we had reduced a few years ago to down to the level that we are currently at and while we don’t have specific plans, it’s possible we’ll continue to look at reducing the total output of the studio.
We’re also looking obviously at the cost of production, although as we reduced our number of films, the percentage of tent pole movies as part of the slate has gone up, so the average cost per film has gone up slightly, but we are going to look at that carefully and of course, we are going to look at marketing, where I think we have some real opportunities in terms of reducing expenses.
And then lastly we’ll continue to look at our infrastructure. We’re just restructuring the company in Europe, an announcement that we made in the last few months, and we think we’ve got opportunities there, and we’ll look across the globe as the studio did a few years ago, at opportunities not just in the studio business but in all of our businesses to restructure with an eye toward not only creating more accountability but more efficiency.
Thomas O. Staggs
Spencer, with regard to the parks, I want to avoid giving you guidance on where margins will be, not to obfuscate but because frankly no two economic environments are the same and no two downturns are the same, likewise. I would say this -- if all things were equal, I believe the parks group is, first of all, as adept as they have ever been, and perhaps more so at managing their cost base. I also believe they have some greater amount of arrows in their quiver with that regard and a somewhat more diversified base of business.
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